Advisor

• Coaches proactively provide guidance such as for setting goals and monitoring task completion.
• Context-sensitive help reactively responds when a user has reached an impasse and cannot proceed without assistance.

Affordance

Perceptual characteristics of an object that make it obvious what the object can do and how it can be manipulated.

Agent

An entity in a software system that observes user behavior, makes inferences about user goals and needs, and offers users suggestions or other helpful advice.

Anthropomorphism

The tendency to refer to machines, such as computers, as if they have human traits, capabilities, or responsibilities.

Best practices

A set of exemplary work methods, variously defined as:

• Continuously improving processes
• Activities and programs that are in keeping with the best possible evidence about what works in a particular context
• Management practices and work processes that lead to superior performance
• Strategies, activities, or approaches that have been shown through research and evaluation to be effective.

Computer-based training (CBT)

An all-encompassing term used to describe any computer-delivered training, including CD-ROM and Web-based.

Context sensitive help

A software feature that offers assistance related to the specific program, command, or dialog box that is currently open.

A type of user assistance that helps to identify the action that is appropriate for a particular set of conditions.

An interactive system that includes information and modeling tools to help people understand a problem, explore various courses of action, predict the impacts of those actions, make decisions, and analyze data.

Demonstration

A technique that involves animating a sequence of user inputs and system responses to enable users to see what actions to perform and what responses to expect.

Domain knowledge

Knowledge required to carry out typical responsibilities in a particular field, such as accounting, forestry, or nursing.

User assistance embodied in the real estate and functioning of a software user interface, rather than in a separate application that floats above or behind a software application. Cheryl Lockett Zubak (http://www.workwrite.com/) lists five types:

1. Stationary embedded help -- provides user assistance in a form that is consistently visible in various windows and dialog boxes within the user interface.
2. Process embedded help -- helps users perform processes and tasks within the application, and changes as users proceed through a task. It can clarify actions or guide users through procedural steps, such as with wizards or cue cards.
3. Instructional embedded help -- teaches and guides users by providing domain knowledge support, revealing additional details on a topic, opening a tutorial, or showing where the users need to be in an application and opening applicable windows.
4. Context embedded help -- interprets user actions, ascertains goals, and volunteers assistance before users request it. It takes into account what the user has done, what the user is currently doing, and which software objects are open at the moment.
5. Agent embedded help -- performs a task on the user's behalf, such as identifying and retrieving software that needs to be installed, or finding specific information on appropriate web sites.

The in-depth study of individuals and groups, their practices, and their artifacts in the context of their normal work environment.

External support

User assistance that requires the user to break the work context entirely, such as looking up something in a book, attending a training session, or making a call to a help desk.

Compare with intrinsic support and extrinsic support.

Extrinsic support

User assistance that is available within the system, but requires the user to break the task flow to obtain it. Summoning online help is a common example.

Compare with intrinsic support and external support.

See system functionality.

Principles of human perception that emphasize the holistic relationships among visual features in relation to objects and configurations.

For variations of the help concept, see advisor, agent, context-sensitive help, embedded help, and wizard.

  See usability practitioner.

The study of variables that influence human performance in work contexts.

The presentation and organization of task objects and actions to facilitate perception, interpretation, and understanding.

See user interface.

Intrinsic support

User assistance that is so tightly integrated with the interface that it appears to be part of the system.

Compare with extrinsic support and external support.

A cyclical approach to design in which ideas are prototyped and tested, and the results are used to guide the next cycle of redesign.

A process of identifying, documenting, archiving, maintaining, and reusing the concepts and skills developed by members of an organization.

Knowledge support

User assistance in performing knowledge-based work that focuses on domain knowledge. The assistance may be integrated with both the user interface and with performance support.

Work involving significant expertise and intellectual decision making.

A familiar concept that is used to convey the meaning of a new concept through an analogy.

An approach to instruction and documentation emphasizing realistic tasks, minimal verbiage, thinking and improvisation by the user, and the recognition of and recovery from errors.

See help.

Assistance provided in performing some aspect of work, often through an electronic performance support system.

A process that optimizes the user interface through visual design, idiom and metaphor, orienting the software around tasks, using appropriate windows and window components, and ensuring that the interface is as intuitive as possible.

An operational model of a design or software development proposal, usually created for testing and feedback purposes.

A narrative or story that describes the activities of one or more persons, including information about goals, expectations, actions, and reactions.

A graphical, event-by-event depiction of a scenario or portions thereof, developed to communicate or analyze a user interface design. The depiction may show a high-level view, such as major screen changes; or a detailed-level view, such as specific menu selections.

The information that a system holds or accesses, the kinds of operations performed on this information, and the results returned by these operations.

A usability evaluation method in which the user speaks out loud his or her reactions, goals, plans, and behaviors while using an interactive system.

A method for embedding small snippets of information into a user interface. A tool tip usually displays an object's name or function whenever the user's pointer rests over that object on the screen.

A program that provides instruction for the use of a system or of software.

The ease, speed, and pleasantness with which intended people can use a product.

An approach to software development in which target levels of system usability are specified in advance, and the system is engineered toward those measures.

Any activity, either analytical or empirical, aimed at assessing or understanding the usability of an interactive system or prototype.

One or more physical rooms that are designed to simulate an office or other computer use setting. The lab is usually set up with software and hardware for capturing a user's behavior as he or she works through a set of tasks.

Intermediaries who study and listen to users, then communicate those needs to software developers.

See usability evaluation.

Use case

A set of scenarios that are tied together by a common user goal. A use case specifies all possible interactions between the user and the system with respect to those scenarios.

Procedural, training, and help information provided to assist users in carrying out activities with a computer system.

Physical representations and procedures, integral to a software system, that enable users to view and interact with the system functionality.

An operational version or mock-up of a system that:

• supports interaction between the user and the system
• facilitates iterative design
• is employed in user testing

A representation of the knowledge and mental activities involved in the user of a computer system. Often used to make predictions about system usability.

Visual language

The features of information design (e.g., menu style, font type and size, button shape and size) that repeat across visual displays to create a sense of consistency and coherence.

Wizard

Online assistance wherein a computer system recognizes and offers step-by-step guidance through the procedure.

Definitions were derived from the following sources:

Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction by Mary Beth Rosson and John M. Carroll (2002, Academic Press) ISBN: 1-55860-712-9

http://www.chesco.com/~cmarion/PCD/EPSSImplications.html -- Craig Marion's definitions and descriptions of key terms.

http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/epss/whatis.html -- Chet Leighton's definitions and descriptions of key terms.

http://www.pcd-innovations.com -- Gloria Gery's performance support Web site.